Self-esteem isn’t something that a man acquires or develops in himself. It is inherent. It is only lost when he places his attention on a neurosis such as vanity. Self-esteem is an essential element of any normal creature. When a man becomes abnormal as he is conditioned by society to grasp for his self-worth in the approval of others, then that essential element is lost. It cannot be regained because it is already present, albeit buried away under the weight of delusional concepts ingrained in him by an ill-array of societal memes. A man cannot develop what is already there. What he develops instead is not self-esteem but an extension of his neurosis. Vanity bloats by his efforts. Self-esteem can only be rediscovered as a man renatures himself by refusing to fuel that which hinders and buffers it from surfacing. Vanity, like a man’s belly, will shrink if he feeds it less each day. There will be suffering as his accustomed appetite is ignored, but even that appetite will abate as the belly becomes smaller with each passing refusal. Self-esteem is a condition of normality and normality is the precondition of a man who refuses to be ruled by his neurosis.